E-tendering in construction: time for a change?

E-tendering is one of the information technology tools that has been highlighted by construction industry experts to assist in changing the industry’s culture and improving its processes. However the emergence of e-tendering in construction in the UK has been slow. This paper documents a questionnaire survey of quantity surveyors in northern England, identifying their views on different aspects of e-tendering, and providing an analysis of the perceived drivers and barriers to its implementation. Using a relative importance index, time and cost are confirmed as the two most significant perceived drivers in implementing e-tendering, while sustainability benefits are also recognised as important. The lack of experience and precedence in the legal realm is one of the main perceived barriers. The paper explores the impact of personal characteristics on attitudes towards e-tendering. Age and experience are particularly significant, with older and more experienced surveyors being more critical and negative than younger surveyors towards e-tendering. The analysis also identifies that the size and type of company affects attitudes with regard to electronic sharing of information and the related aspects of infrastructure and security. Smaller companies have more concerns with regard to security, while contractors’ quantity surveyors have much more concern over sharing information than clients’ consultants. Prior use also affects attitudes, with inexperienced users expressing more concerns over the use of e-tendering. The conclusion is that, amongst quantity surveyors, there is recognition of the benefits that e-tendering can bring about but that there are a number of barriers currently acting as a brake on the uptake of e-tendering

An Evaluation of a Unified Sports Football Pilot Project

A preliminary report on the evaluation of the Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia Unified Football Pilot Project.There is growing support in European societies for the total inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in all aspects of the community. Sport provides a means for supporting this integration process.Unified Sports is one mechanism for promoting social inclusion through sport. Unified Sports is a Special Olympics initiative that provides opportunities for sportsmen with and without intellectual disabilities to play on integrated sport teams. This experience allows athletes and partners to develop sport skills, have meaningful competition experiences, and create long lasting friendships.In 2005, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia developed a school-based pilot project that merged the Special Olympics school curriculum SO Get Into It with Special Olympics Unified Football. The goals of this pilot project were to improve the sport skills, social skills, and self-esteem of students with and without intellectual disabilities. In addition, the project aimed to improve the understanding and acceptance of students without disabilities towards people with intellectual disabilities.Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia and Special Olympics, Inc., commissioned the Special Olympics Global Collaborating Center (GCC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston to implement a comprehensive evaluation of this pilot project.The findings of this evaluation suggest that this model of Unified football has been successful in promoting social inclusion. Though separated by their educational settings, these students with and without intellectual disabilities have come together on the playing field to learn about sport and one another

A Phenomenological Study of Methamphetamine and Heroin Users’ Arrest Experiences

The costs in terms of both monetary and human lives lost due to substance abuse in the United States is well documented and it is publicized that it is increasing. There has been a large amount of research completed that has examined methamphetamine users, heroin users, and the drug-crime nexus; however, there is a paucity of research that provides insight into these users’ arrest experiences. Using a phenomenological approach, this research examined methamphetamine and heroin users’ incidents of being arrested to gain a greater understanding of their lived experiences. The analysis was based on interviews that were conducted with five adults that had been regular users of methamphetamine and/or heroin and had been arrested for an offense that was either directly or indirectly a result of their drug use. The results revealed four general themes that indicated: (1) the users felt they were living self-destructive lifestyles at the time of their arrest; (2) they experienced shock and confusion at the time of the arrest and afterwards; (3) interactions with the police were commonplace and they each had mixed experiences dealing with the police; (4) each of the participants expressed directly or indirectly that they needed to be arrested, complete long term confinement, or the possibility of long-term confinement, after a charge to successfully achieve sobriety and positive changes in their lives. These findings were discussed, reviewing evaluations of drug court diversion, incarceration, or the concept of an individual hitting rock-bottom as a prerequisite for lasting positive change and rehabilitation. Future research comparing the success of these post-arrest outcomes is suggested

Life on Mars

The current NASA mission to Mars is one of the most technologically advanced endeavours that mankind has ever attempted. As Lee Bardon describes, scientists at the University of Leicester have played a key role in this mission to discover life

El delito de corrupción privada: bien jurídico, estructura típica e intervinientes

[spa] A través de la LO 5/2010 el legislador español introdujo en el CP el art. 286 bis, creando un nuevo delito de corrupción privada. Según el Preámbulo a la LO 5/2010:"La idea fuerza en este ámbito es que la garantía de una competencia justa y honesta pasa por la represión de los actos encaminados a corromper a los administradores de entidades privadas de forma similar a lo que se hace a través del delito de cohecho". En este trabajo se aborda la cuestión del bien jurídico protegido, examinando la postura defendida por la doctrina mayoritaria, partidaria de la tesis de que estamos ante un delito de peligro abstracto, y se propone un planteamiento distinto: entender que se trata de un delito de peligro concreto y no abstracto. Asimismo, se realiza un estudio de la estructura típica del nuevo delito y se analizan algunos de los problemas interpretativos que plantea la corrupción entre particulares.[eng] The Spanish legislator introduced by means of the LO 5/2010 the article 286 bis in the Penal Code, creating a new crime of private corruption. According to the preface of the LO 5/2010: “The main idea in this field is the guaranty of a just and honest competition which depends on the repression of acts leading to corrupt the administrators of private entities the same way as it is done through bribery crime”. In this paper the question of the legal good protected is treated, examining the posture defended by the majority doctrine which is in favor of the thesis of the crime of abstract danger and a different approach is proposed: understanding that we are talking about a crime of concrete danger. At the same time a study of the structure of the new crime of private corruption is carried out

Posiciones de garante frente al acoso escolar. ¿Responden penalmente los padres y docentes que no impiden el acoso?

[spa] El presente trabajo pretende abordar algunos de los problemas jurídicos que plantea el acoso escolar, concretamente, los vinculados a las posiciones de garantía. Se trata de un fenómeno que, sin ser de nueva aparición, ha despertado una considerable alarma social, a lo que han contribuido los medios de comunicación y el aumento en los últimos años del número de denuncias. La falta de regulación expresa de esta modalidad de acoso no ha impedido a la jurisprudencia condenar a los autores de bullying por un delito contra la integridad moral. Cuestión distinta es si el castigo de los menores autores de acoso escolar excluye una posible responsabilidad civil e incluso penal de los padres y docentes por infracción de sus deberes de vigilancia y control. En la jurisdicción civil existen numerosas sentencias que condenan a los padres y a los centros docentes, siempre que la conducta delictiva de acoso se haya producido dentro del centro y durante el horario escolar. Por vía penal, aunque de momento no ha habido ninguna condena, cabe destacar la revocación por parte del AAP Cáceres 2ª (jur. Penal), 68/2016, 9-02, de la resolución que decretaba el sobreseimiento provisional de las actuaciones que atribuían a las querelladas (directora, tutora y psicóloga del centro) la comisión de un atentado contra la integridad moral por hallar indicios de delito en su conducta.[eng] The pretention of the present article is to face some of the legal problems that arise from school bullying. Especially, those related to situations of guarantee. It is a phenomenon that is not new on the scene but it has caused considerable social alarm. Certainly, the media has contributed to this alarm and in latter years the number of police reports which have increased. The lack of specific regulation of this kind of harassment hasn’t prevented the Jurisprudence from condemning the authors of bullying as a crime against moral integrity. Another question would be if the punishment of minors authors of school bullying excludes a possible civil responsibility or even criminal responsibility of the parents and teachers for failing in their duty of vigilance and control. There are many sentences in the civil jurisdiction which condemn the parents and also the educational centers when the criminal conduct has taken place inside the Centre and during the school hours. In the criminal Jurisdiction there has been no sentence for the moment, but it should be observed that there is a revocation from the AAP Cáceres 2ª (jur. Penal), 68/2016, 9-02, of the resolution that decreated the provisional dismissal of the action which attributed to the defendant the realization of an attempt against the moral integrity

Empiricism, Time-Awareness, and Hume's Manners of Disposition

The issue of time-awareness presents a critical challenge for empiricism: if temporal properties are not directly perceived, how do we become aware of them? A unique empiricist account of time-awareness suggested by Hume's comments on time in the Treatise avoids the problems characteristic of other empiricist accounts. Hume's theory, however, has some counter-intuitive consequences. The failure of empiricists to come up with a defensible theory of time-awareness lends prima facie support to a non-empiricist theory of idea